Combination dehumidifying, refrigeration cooling and heating unit



Sept. 6, 1966 H. L. PAULUS 3,270,804

COMBINATION DEHUMIDIFYING, REFRIGERATION COOLING AND HEATING UNIT Filed May 18, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR. HOW/7P0 1. R404 05.

ATTORNEY Sept. 6, 1966 H. L. PAULUS 3,270,804 COMBINATION DEHUMIDIFYING, REFRIGERATION COOLING AND HEATING UNI Filed May 18, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. E5: HOW/4R0 L. 1 3401.05.

ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,270,804 COMBINATION DEHUMIDIFYIN G, REFRIGERA- TION COOLING AND HEATING UNIT Howard L. Paulus, Scottsdale, Ariz. (3026 E. Northern Ave., Phoenix, Ariz- 85028) Filed May 18, 1964, Ser. No. 368,056 1 Claim. (Cl. 16548) This invention is directed to improvements in air conditioning apparatus and is particularly directed to a combination dehumidifying, refrigeration cooling and heating unit.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a unit which may be instantly changed from dehumidification to refrigeration cooling by the simple adjustment of a single common air flow control valve.

Another object is to provide a self-contained unit which may be placed in a room to provide dehumidification and spot refrigeration cooling by providing specially arranged air intake and exhaust areas for the unit.

Still another object is to provide a combined dehumidi. fier and refrigeration cooler in which the heat from the unit during refrigeration is substantially isolated from the cooling air discharge when operated in a closed room.

Further features and advantages of this invention will appear from a detailed description of the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a left hand side elevation of the combination dehumidifying, refrigeration cooling, and heating unit incorporating the features of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the unit shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the unit shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section on the line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged horizontal section on the line 55 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a wiring diagram of the electric circuitry for the unit.

As an example of one embodiment of this invention there is shown a combination dehumidifying, refrigeration cooling and heating unit comprising a cabinet 10 including a bottom 11, a front panel 12, a back panel 13, side panels 14 and 15, and the top panel 16. The bottom 11 is supported on a suitable pair of wheels 17 and legs 18 to facilitate easy portability of the unit.

Suitably fixed to the bottom 11 is a refrigeration compressor 19 having a discharge line 20 which is connected to a condenser 21 fixed to the upper portion of the back panel and aligned with an appropriate exhaust air grill 22 formed in the back panel 13. A liquid line 23 is connected through the usual flow indicating inspection window unit 24 and the strainer and drier unit 25 through a capillary tube 26 to the evaporator 27 which is fixed to the upper portion of the front panel 12 aligned with an appropriate air intake grill 28 formed in the front panel 12, which may also contain a high efliciency charcoat filter or the like 29. The return suction line 30 from the evaporator is connected back to the compressor 19.

An intermediate lateral partition 31 extends between the side panels 14 and so as to form the compressorcondenser compartment 32, the cooling and heating air compartment 33 and the condensate compartment 34, the latter two compartments 3'3 and 34 being separated by -so as to draw room air over said coils.

3,270,804 Patented Sept. 6, 1966 a horizontal bafiie 35 extending between the front panel 12 and the intermediate panel 31. A condenser fan motor 36 having a fan 37 is mounted in the compressorcondenser compartment 32 by means of a suitable bracket 38 fixed to the top 16 which, when energized drives air through the condenser 21 outwardly of the compartment as indicated by the arrows 39. The top 16 of the cabinet is cut away at 40 to allow an open passageway at the top of the compressor-condenser compartment 32.

Fixed to the partition 31 in the cooling and heating air compartment 33 is the room air circulating blower 41 having a discharge outlet 42 projecting through the top 16 of the unit, the blower having a suitable driving motor 43. The blower 41 has a suction intake opening 44 closely associated with the heating coil drum 45 A condensate drip tube 46 in the bafile 35 conducts condensate drip from the evaporator to the condensate receptacle 47 which may be emptied from time to time as required by access through the condensate compartment access door 48.

An air directing cover indicated generally at 49 is mounted over the top .16 of the unit 10 and has a suitable cooling and heating air discharge grill 50 with appropriate directional louvers 51. Within the dome of the cover 49 is mounted an air flow directive valve 52 of arcuate shape mounted on a rockshaft 53' journaled in the sides 54 and 55 of the cover 49, the shaft 53 extending outwardly from the side 54 and having a suitable operating knob 56 fixed thereon for rocking the valve 52 between the full line position 52a and the broken line position 52b. The front edge 57 swings between the valve seats 58 and 59 while the rear edge 60 swings between the valve seats 61 and 62.

The operation of the electrical components, FIG. 6, of the unit are controlled from a single two position switch 63 which is moved to one position 64 for dehumidification and refrigeration cooling and to a position 65 for heating.

When the switch 63 is in position 64 the blower 41, compressor 19 and fan 36-37 are operating so that when the valve 52 is in position 52a the cooled and dehumidified air which has passed over the evaporator 27 directly through the passageway 66 in the top 49 into the compressor-condenser compartment 32 and then out through the condenser where it is again warmed and lowered in humidity and distributed back into the room resulting in thus filtering at 29 to clean and then dry out the air and warm it back to room temperature as it discharges out the grill 22 at the rear of the unit.

With switch 63 still in position 64 and valve 52 moved to position 52b, the refrigeration cooling cycle is obtained since air drawn through the evaporator 27 now flows through passageway 67 out through the cooling air discharge grill 50 at the top front of the unit in the opposite direction and away from the slower discharge of heated air from the condenser 21' by the fan 37 out While the apparatus herein disclosed and described constitutes a preferred form of the invention, it is also to be understood that the apparatus is capable of mechanical alteration without departing from the spirit of the invention and that such mechanical arrangement and commercial adaptation as fall within the scope of the appendent claim is intended to be included herein.

Having thus fully set forth and described this invention what is claimed and desired to be obtained by United States Letters Patent is:

A combination dehumidifying, refrigeration cooling,

and heating unit comprising in combinaton:

(A) a cabinet having,

(B) a bottom,

(C) a front panel,

(D) a back panel,

(E) side panels,

(F) and a top,

(G) an intermediate lateral partition extending between said sides forming,

(H) a compressor and condenser compartment at the rear of said cabinet,

(I) a cooling and heating air compartment at the front of said unit,

(J) and a condensate compartment below said cooling and heating :air compartment,

(K) a condenser in the upper rear portion of said compressor and condenser compartment having an exhaust grill in said back panel,

(L) an evaporator in the front portion of said cooling and heating air compartment having an evaporation air intake grill in the upper portion of said front panel,

(M) a bolwer in said cooling and heating compartment having a blower suction air intake adapted to draw air through said evaporator,

(N) a heating coil between said evaporator and said blower suction air intake,

(0) a top on said unit over said compressor and condenser compartment and said evaporator compartment having a discharge outlet from said blower,

(P) an air directing cover on top of said unit,

(Q) a cooling and heating air discharge grill in the front of said air directing cover located above and behind said evaporator air intake grill,

(R) and an air flow directive valve movably mounted in said cover to one position to direct air discharged from said blower discharge outlet out through said cooling and heating discharge grill and movable to another position to direct air discharge from said blower discharge outlet into said compressor and condenser compartment out through said condenser.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,896,428 7/1959 Paton 62-429 ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

CHARLES SUKALO, Examiner. 

